Allen, Scalabrine key early surge as Celtics roll

Jan 17, 2009 - 10:04 PM
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- On Kids Day at the IZOD
Center, it was men against boys, which was good news for the
Boston Celtics.

Ray Allen and Brian Scalabrine keyed an 18-2 game-opening run
and the Celtics never looked back in a 105-85 rout of the New
Jersey Nets on Saturday.

Allen finished with 25 points and Rajon Rondo had eight, 14
assists and nine rebounds for the Celtics, who have recovered
from their recent woes to win four straight games.

Kevin Garnett added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Paul Pierce
scored 13 for Boston, which had lost four straight to close a
2-7 slide but got healthy against the Nets, beating them for the
seventh straight time and the fifth in a row in New Jersey. The
Celtics rolled to a 118-86 home rout of the Nets on Wednesday.

"We didn't want to give them confidence starting the game off
and get them going, so we just made sure we had a big start both
games," Allen said. "You come in thinking that we'll ease our
way into the game, we'll find out what's working for us. We
know first-hand that's when teams get out and they get confident
and they keep it going throughout the game. We lost a couple of
games this year that way."

Brook Lopez scored 28 points for the Nets, who have lost three
straight and four of their last five games. The rookie center
received little help from the starting backcourt of Vince Carter
and Devin Harris, who combined for 12 points and four turnovers
and were benched for the second half by coach Lawrence Frank.

"I was just totally embarrassed about our performance," Frank
said. "It was an embarrassing start to the game and I decided
to go in another direction today."

"It's not easy, but I'm going to keep cheering my team on and
trying to help any way I can," Carter said. "I understand he
has to do the right thing for the team. If I didn't care I
wouldn't be cheering them like I was. It's a wakeup call for
us."

Mostly in place of Harris, Keyon Dooling finished with nine
points and eight assists in 32 minutes.

"The other guys went out there and they gave us a fight," Harris
said. "A few calls didn't go our way and we just kind of lost
our composure and they took advantage of it."

Boston jumped to a 16-point lead within the first seven minutes
of the game behind nine points from Allen and seven from former
Net Scalabrine, who started at center. Included in the run was
a conventional three-point play by both, with Scalabrine's
capping the run with 5:12 left in the first quarter.

"When we were getting stops, we got out and ran," Scalabrine
said. "We have a good combination for that. It was
right-place-at-right-time for me. With all the attention
focused elsewhere, Kevin was dropping dimes to me."

"Kevin and Scal ran the middle of the floor," Celtics coach Doc
Rivers said. "As much as the guards run, I think the bigs
running is almost more important in the fast break because if I
big runs, he takes a guard with him."

Boston made 10-of-14 shots (71 percent) from inside the arc in
the quarter, finishing with a 29-15 lead.

The Nets hung around for the first half of the second quarter,
closing within 42-30 when Trenton Hassell made a pair of free
throws with 5:35 left, but then the Celtics quickly wiped out
New Jersey with a 17-1 burst in just 2:09.

Rondo started it with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to
beat the expiring shot clock. Garnett dunked on a fast break,
and Rondo set up Allen for a 3-pointer off a steal.

"It all starts on the defensive end," said Rondo, who added he
had no indication he was close to a triple-double.

Carter tried to interrupt the run at the four-minute mark with a
free throw, but Rondo fed Pierce for a pair of long-range bombs
around Garnett's jumper to close the outburst and leave Boston
with a 59-31 lead with three minutes left.

"We wanted to make sure we jumped out on them," Pierce said.
"You couldn't script it any better, the way we came out there."

Allen hit a 17-footer with a half-second left to make it 68-39
at the intermission. Boston was 14-of-21 (67 percent) from the
floor in the second quarter, including 6-of-9 from beyond the
arc.

The Celtics built the lead as high as a game-best 30 points in
the opening half, shooting 64 percent (25-of-39) while holding
New Jersey to 40 percent (14-of-35).

They allowed the Nets to close within 83-63 by the end of the
third as Jarvis Hayes hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 30
seconds. Hayes finished with 15 points.

"Fortunately we have a good break," Harris said. "We have two
practices before the next game. We can go home, we have a day
off (Sunday), and reflect on what (we) need to bring to the
table and start fresh on Monday."